As I used the emax cf2812 motors on the Hex and the 3DR Arducopter Quad came with 4 spare motors (bent shafts), I bought a set of these replacements.
After fitting and test today it flew 19 minutes (3000 Bat) and was very windy and chasing it everywhere just trying to hover, on a clam day maybe 20. The old motors only had about 14 minutes, the postage cost from the US for the parts was worth it.

Also did a test with the 3DR Arducopter Quad with a 3300 Bat and a hover of 12 Minutes

Completed the APM 3.3v repair and all looked good, connected receiver to calibrate and set the flight modes, still good.
Then I noticed the GPS lights have just gone out, basic checks show the 5v power to the board is good, looked at the schematics and yes it has the same 3.3v Reg and the power LED runs directly off it, removed the reg and powered from the other 3.3v supply and yes it now works as well.
The reliability of the TSP79133 is lacking.

Found on ebay a diy drone with telemetry kit and spares but the board was probably damaged but was cheap and I can use all the motors/esc/props/telemtery as the worst case on something else.
Powered up the board and found could not run tests against any sensors except the GPS.
The GPS is 5v and all the others 3.3v and I saw discussion of the reg failing and a quick check showed it had, removed it and powered up the a Bench supply and every thing worked
There was no way I would get a new SMD reg back on the board but a check of the schematic shows the 3.3 should be available on the i2c connector.
I can now make up a small 3.3 reg and connect to that socket and a 5v feed from one of the other pins on the board

Images

Had a large area when away for the long weekend and tested the FPV setup, very hard to fly. I had no feeling for altitude or movement but it was using a small screen in the open. Will try fitted in a welding helmet to see if when the only vision is via the screen it's better.

Images

Had my first test flight of the fully assembled FPV quad, running at about 60/70% throttle to hover and motors getting very hot.
Current weight is 1038 which is up by 225 on the base. I think the landing gear is a bit on the heavy side just taking the AUW to just over the limit for EMax CF2822 motors with 9" gemfan props.
Will move the camera to above the battery and leave off the landing gear which should get me 180g back, off to the workshop.

Received the Sony 600TVL Camera from SecurityCamera2000 and the 5.8ghz Tx/Rx
Powered up and test ok , ranged seemed ok at about 30m from Shed to TV inside though 2 brick walls and 3 internal walls and test gear on the bench.

The Camera mount also turned up, servos should be this week I hope.
The cut-outs on the board don't match the camera plugs as I assume it is to match HobbyKing cameras, a bit of cutting will fix this.
Not worth trying to make one of these for the price.

Completed assembly and did a quick fly in the garage, too windy again.
The new frame seems to amplify the noisy worn bearings in the motors, maybe time to use the spares.
Weight without Battery is 545g and with is Battery 780g, down 80g.

Images

As I have stopped crashing and now understand how it flies so time for a lightweight frame, I have access to a laser so cutting the aluminium top/bottom plates was easy after drawing them in auto-cad, based on a design at www.diymulticopter.org but with the battery carrier added.
It will be using 10mmx10mm square C section for the arms, estimated weight should be about 100g, down 88g from Version 2.
All connections will be pop rivets and controller nylon screws

[Edit I had the material size wrong in SolidWorks, 134g is expected weight]

Images

Took a while to find out what to do but it looks like the Module is only in config mode for a short period after power-up.
It is discovered as a HC-07 and the firmware is Linvor 1.7 in response to "AT+VERSION"

Now I can remove the code to switch the Baud rate when the quad is armed and the response on the phone is now excellent

Tried to use the new Arduino Plugin for VS2012 which is fantastic, it's like comparing Notepad to MS Word but looks like the Serial Port monitor has issues and had to drop back to old Arduino IDE for this.

Can fly again now I have the replacement battery, also grabbed a power meter as well to get an idea of motor load and esc sizes really needed as I think they are a bit bigger than what is really needed.

AUW is now down from 860 to 855 even with a bigger battery as the battery tray is basic now

Went to top up my Lipo for a fly and the charger complained about the volts, pulled it out of the change bag where it had been since storage charge earlier this week and I had a bulging pack.
Check with the meter and zero volts, looks like leaving hooked up to the charger was not a good idea, or so I thought.

Read the threads about recovering and that seemed to be working until it was at a voltage for balance so I attempted it, alarm on cell volts, but why, showing 10v but cells as zero still.

I had bought a balance extension cable during the week, removed it and all good, closer look at the extension cable, the wiring on the plug was backwards, I suspect that was the cause of the flat battery.

Running 9x4.7 props at hover about 2m up, the total current was a fraction under 9 amps.
Then tested with 9x4.7 and 8x4.5 on each motor (4 blades), current was just over 10 amps, then tested with 9x4.7 and 9x4.7 it went to just under 11 amps.

Staying with normal configuration.

Images

When I ordered the "FrSky DJT 2.4Ghz Combo Pack for JR w/ Telemetry Module & V8FR-II RX" I expected to have a usable telemetry system. Needed to read the full specs, the receiver in this set is not suitable for telemetry, I do now have a fail-safe

Powered up for the first test and behaves nothing like the original, will hover nearly in the same spot, now to do some PID adjustments to get rid of the drift.
Weight without battery - 630g
With battery - AUW 860g